Jason stared at him, hand still outstretched for a handshake and seemingly offended at being called 'Subway Man'. Peter swiftly took his hand and smiled as sweetly as he could.
"Sorry, I just remember bumping into you in the subway and so I just kinda associated you with that, you know?," Peter fumbled over his words.
Jason sighed, "Don't sweat it, kid."
It was then that Peter noticed the sling the man wore and he knew for sure that Jason wasn't in one when they first met. He opened his mouth to ask when Delmar cut in. "When's your bike gonna get out the shop, Jay?"
"Just got out today actually."
Delmar's eyes widened as he let out a whistle of admiration. "Damn, really? What mechanic do you go to?"
The conversation had taken a turn that made Peter feel as though he was no longer in the conversation. He figured it was some hint for him to just leave and he slowly began inching away. Jason, however, clasped his hand on his shoulder and pulled him back as he casually answered Delmar. "Oh, just a family friend. He's retired now and really only works with me in his off time."
Delmar nodded and stood up from his seat before hobbling towards the back, motioning for them to follow. "C'mon, you're probably itching to get going so I'm gonna make sure you at least get your check. You too, Jay."
Peter leaned over to Jason. "Can I call you Jay-"
"No."
"Okay."
The owner busied himself with collecting their check. "How long's that arm gonna be banged up?"
"Oh just a few weeks, but I reckon I can still work here and there." Jason turned to answer Delmar, finally releasing Peter from his grasp.
"Can you drive?"
"My bike? Yeah," Jason replied. His brows furrowed slightly in confusion.
Delmar turned around and handed the duo some cash. "You think you two could pair up? Let the kid here do most of the delivering while you drive him around."
Jason nodded in musing as he thumbed through the cash. "Sure, don't see how that could hurt."
Peter looked between the two before holding up a time out sign. "Woah, woah. Are you saying we're going to be doing deliveries together?"
"Yep." Jason grinned. "You up for it, squirt."
He retorted, "I- Oh you're so on, Subway Man."
A competitive spark had ignited between them and Peter had a feeling he and Jason were going to be just fine together.
"Great, I'll be seeing the both of you tomorrow. Six o'clock sharp. Now scram, I want to go home." Delmar shooed them out and into the downpour.
Jason turned to Peter. "You gonna walk home in this?"
"Yep," Peter replied, turning on his heel and walking away. He could hear Jason coasting up beside him on his motorcycle. It was a nice bike, a bit bulkier than he'd like, but still nice. And it was definitely customized. "Do you usually stalk your colleagues?" he asked.
"No, just making sure you don't get yourself into trouble."
"Oh, please. I don't get myself into trouble, trouble follows me, just like what you are doing."
Jason opened his mouth to quip back when Peter pointed to a random alley and screamed, "Oh my god, it's the Joker!"
"What!?" Jason whipped his head around only to be met with nothing.
Peter cackled as he sprinted away from Jason. There was no Joker.
It was quiet. Not from the criminals, they were always loud, but from the vigilantes. That's how it had been for about two weeks, deathly silent and uneventful. Then, before Peter even knew it, it was August tenth.
Peter had seen glimpses of the other vigilantes, but hadn't been able to talk to them like he had that first night. He felt as if they were avoiding him. Which, as stupid as it was, kinda hurt to think that. He looked down at the pathetic cupcake in his hands.
"How old am I?"
He was only sixteen when he was blipped away for five years and when he came back he was suddenly both twenty two and seventeen at the same time. Then he woke up in a whole new universe, eleven years in the past. Could he even count this as a full year? Is he really eighteen?
The cupcake just sat there, it would give him no answer. "Happy birthday to me, I guess," he sighed and unwrapped it to take a large bite out of it.
Time slowed as every detail sharpened. His sense rang sharply in his skull and he could barely jump away fast enough to dodge the object now embedded into the concrete where he once sat. Peter had seen it before, a batarang.
'It looks off.' Peter could swear it felt like someone was looking over his shoulder as the voice spoke. But it was right, the batarang was… wrong…
He ducked as another 'wrong' batarang stuck itself into the brick wall above his head.
"Woah! Not cool dude!" Spider-Man yelped. He went to throw a quip out when it stepped from the shadows in all of its dark glory.
Every instinct in the spider yelled at him to run away. Something was wrong because his primal side tells him that that's not Batman. The uncanny valley effect. There's a reason humans developed a reaction to things that looked human, but weren't, and he was facing it. Any and all humor died within him as it seemingly stared into his soul and smiled. Batman doesn't smile.
Peter threw himself off of the roof to get away from the not-Batman-Batman, but even then he still felt it following him. When it got a hold of his arm he immediately wrenched away from it and hissed. It held a bottle next to his face and it exploded, the fumes entering into his open mouth.
He threw a punch and connected with… nothing. Peter dropped to the ground heaving and gagging, his heart beating faster and his eyes widening as blood splattered onto the concrete. The shadows crept into his vision and he felt like he was being watched again. He scrambled away, swinging carelessly through the city until he found his shelter. No matter how far he ran, it watched him. He slammed the window up and crawled through it before landing harshly onto the floor.
Peter's fingers curled into themselves and dug into his palms. Every organ in his body felt like it was being liquified inside of him and suddenly he remembered turning to dust on Titan and just how much it felt like that. His skin itched and burned. The taste of blood was nauseating, but only worsened as it practically suffocated him. It made him want to tear his own throat out. The only thing keeping him from doing so was his motor functions completely shutting down. Peter felt like a husk of his former self.
Voices invaded his ears and… was that the sound of his door being broken through? It took way too much energy just to turn and look at the source of the noises. Several men and women in masks quickly entered the room, none really quite noticing the dying teen in the corner of the room.
A final man stepped over the remains of the front door. It looked like he wore a black mask, but to blood loss Peter, it just looked like some weird Red Skull ripoff. "Come out here Red Hood! Red-" the man had begun to shout before seeing Spider-Man lying in a pool of his own blood off to the side. Black Mask heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, or at least tried to. "What dumbass got me the wrong information?"
"I think you can only blame yourself for that," a new voice answered, one that Spider-Man had not heard in weeks.
Black Mask turned around, aiming his gun at the newcomer along with every other goon in the room. "Oh, look who just decided to show up," he said with a fake cheery voice. "I hope you're ready to die tonight, Hood."
"How about no…"
"Wha-" Black Mask was cut off by a whole door being frisbeed at him. He ducked in time, but several of his goons were not fortunate enough to do so.
Peter's eyes widened as he felt his finger twitch. Then another. And soon he could lift his entire upper body up from the blood soaked floor. The spider's hands wrapped onto the closest weapon, a taser, and got into a defensive crouch. It didn't matter, Black Mask and his crew were too focused on Red Hood to bother with Spider-Man at the moment. His heart still hammered uncomfortably in his chest as he witnessed the fight with his fuzzy vision. Peter really wanted a nap.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and pressed metal to his head. "Stand down or the freak gets it!" a feminine voice rasped. She let loose a scream as Spider-Man immediately zapped her with the taser. Her hand reminded him too much of the thing that had attacked him previously. Peter shoved her away. Red Hood promptly knocked her unconscious, he'd long finished the fight with Black Mask. He approached the spider.
Peter acted on instinct, jabbing the taser into the vigilante's neck. Red Hood spasmed, left hand roughly reaching out and grabbing the spider's wrist while his other arm had shoved Peter back against the floor. Hood twisted his wrist away hard enough for him to drop the taser in pain.
At that moment, Peter noted how Hood's right arm was weaker, obviously still causing him pain. That meant that Red Hood did not have the ability of enhanced healing like Spider-Man did. Even then, he had to be receiving treatment as it was in better shape than it would be if the vigilante wasn't being helped.
"Goddamnit! Can you not go around tazing people on your side," Hood growled out.
The spider flinched. His senses were still notched to a hundred and mind high strung. If Peter had not been wearing his mask, Red Hood would have been able to see heavily dilated eyes flicking all over the little hideout. Peter was still in panic mode and finding it hard to calm down. The arm pressed against his sternum was not helping the situation.
Red Hood seemed to quickly notice Spider-Man's state of being and swiftly removed his grasp on the vigilante. Peter curled into himself on the floor, mind wandering to past memories.
He didn't feel safe anymore, not after the fight at Happy's condo leading to May's death. Not after the nightmare at the lab. Not after the personal attack from the smiling Batman. And especially not after the break-in by a murderous villain. Peter just wanted somewhere to feel safe.
He could feel the weight of a blanket being laid on him, but it felt distant. Someone was gently stroking his back as Peter huddled closer into the warmth. His body shook like a leaf. He couldn't focus on what they were saying, but it was soft and tender.
Some time had passed with Peter slowly calming down. The adrenaline crash made him want to fall asleep, but he knew he couldn't. He was still in possible danger. Peter's vision slowly came into focus along with his mind.
He could see the bright red bat very close to face. Red Hood had practically encased him with a bear hug. Where his head had ended up resting on suddenly became very obvious.
'Oh god, it's like one of those icky fan service animes,' Peter internally gasped. Not to say it wasn't comfy, because it was, but it was still weird. He tapped on the arm of the other vigilante, hoping that he'd get the message.
Red Hood understood and pulled away. "Who did this to you?" Hood questioned, eyeing the blood trail from Peter's mouth and his sickly look.
'Food, Peter,' the voice whispered. 'Rest, Peter.'
"Sounds great." Peter muttered and promptly passed out.
Red Hood pursed his lips together. "That's not good." He looked around the safehouse which had been effectively destroyed. "Let's get you somewhere safer, kid."
Peter groaned as he woke up with a pounding headache. He dug the palms of his hands into his eyes, stopping in surprise as he felt his mask. He suddenly became aware of the soft sheets he hadn't fallen asleep on or the smell of the room being vastly different.
"Ready to talk?"
The spider jumped back and whipped around to see Red Hood casually leaning back in a chair beside the bed. "About what exactly?" he asked.
"About how much blood you lost yesterday and why your body was shutting down on itself." Hood deadpanned.
"Oh yeah, that," Peter chuckled nervously. "I, uhm… Look if I'm being honest, I really don't know. I got something weird sprayed into my face and I just ended up like that"
Red Hood tilted his head to the side and leaned forward. "Who sprayed it into your face?"
"Well, that's where it gets weird…" Peter drifted off. Hood sighed and signaled for him to continue. "... Batman."
"Wasn't on patrol yesterday," he replied. Red Hood hesitated and stared at him, suddenly extremely serious. "... Spidey, that wasn't Batman that you fought. And if that wasn't Batman that you fought, then who the hell did you meet?"
